How These 6 Brands Leveraged TikTok for Business Success (and How You Can Too)

Are you considering utilizing TikTok to promote your business? With a user base of 1 billion, TikTok (formerly known as Douyin) has experienced rapid growth. It's certainly worth exploring as a means to connect with your target audience. However, it's important to consider what type of content will be most effective. Below are examples of brands that have effectively connected with their customers on the platform:

1. Duolingo

Duolingo is a language learning application that successfully attracted 117.6K likes in early 2023, and was recognised as one of the most-engaging brands on TikTok. Here are a few insights from Duolingo's TikTok accounts that you may find useful:

• Posting consistently: Duolingo posts 3-4 times per week, which helps to ensure that their content remains visible amidst the tons of content that floods the platform every day.
• Comedic: Most people scroll their social media in their leisure time to relax their minds, comedic and entertaining content is the easiest to digest.
• Staying on trends: One of Duolingo content posted during the hype of Harry Styles's concert was played over 870K times. Tapping into the trends your audience is interested in will keep them engaged with your content.

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‍2. Rei

Rei has been renowned for its outdoor recreation equipment since 1938. They target communities or individuals that enjoy hiking, camping, or other outdoor leisure activities. Additionally, with a market presence spanning over 70 years, Rei boasts a huge base of loyal customers. We have summarised some learnings from Rei’s TikTok account.

• Collaborating with TikTok’s content creators. Creators can help your brand tell its story in new, fresh and entertaining ways for your audiences. Recognizing their target market's interest in fitness, content revolving around healthy food and sports supports the promotion of their products.
• Featuring posts from their community members. Showcasing content from members of your community can inspire individuals who aren't typically creators to generate content for your brand, all while deepening the connection between your brand and its audience.

3. Telstra

Telstra is an Australian-based telecommunications and technology company that boasts the largest market share in the country. Its audience spans across different generations and is reflected in their TikTok account. Below are some of our observations from their TikTok content:

• Telstra's content reflects its brand history as a telecommunications company that's been in Australia since 1901. Their payphone service is primarily featured, which resonates more with the older generation or millennials.
• The content is amusing, humorous, and engaging, leading to high levels of interaction from the audience in the form of comments, which the brand actively responds to.

4. The Washington Post

Established in 1877, The Washington Post is the primary newspaper distributed in Washington DC.Since their account creation on TikTok in 2019, The Washington Post has amassed over 1.6 million followers and received 72.6 million likes on its content. Here’s how they propelled their success on TikTok:

• Known for its serious reputation as a newspaper, they didn't shy away from using TikTok. The way the brand used the platform to showcase a lighter side of their organization and experiment with video strategy is a great example for other brands to follow. By doing so, they could make their content and brand appear less intimidating, which could help attract newer audiences.
• Given that The Washington Post's typical reader demographic is over the age of 40, they cater to this audience on TikTok by posting videos that showcase life in the office, memes that relate to current events, and plenty of corny dad jokes for those who enjoy cheesy humor.

5. Chipotle

Chipotle is an American-chain restaurant serving Mexican cuisine, such as tacos and made-to-order burritos. They restaurants across USA, UK, Germany, and France. They sought a means of personally interacting with their customers, and observed that the TikTok community frequently referenced their brand. As a result, Chipotle decided to capitalize on this opportunity and create an official Business Account to establish a genuine brand personality and foster better connections with the younger generation. These are some of the strategies they employed to become a hit on TikTok:

• Chipotle aims to preserve authenticity in its branding and therefore avoids conventional branding videos in favor of a more laid-back approach. The content is kept human and down-to-earth, featuring users sharing their preferred Chipotle hacks, as well as providing detailed recipes for dishes such as corn salsa and Chipotle steak.
• The brand also enjoys infusing humor into their content creation by producing comedic sketches and sharing fan-generated material. Their content ranges from Boomers struggling to pronounce Chipotle to using burritos as weights for arm workouts. Additionally, they include behind-the-scenes footage to highlight their actual kitchens and crew members. These content resonates well with their community which contributed to their success.

6. RyanAir

Ryanair is an Irish budget airline that flies across Europe. Founded in 1984, RyanAir already has loyal customers that love affordable flights engaging with their TikTok accounts, and here are some key takeaways from the account:

• Acknowledging the importance of authenticity on social media platforms, and the brand's emphasis on producing relatable and humanized content.
• Ryanair's TikTok approach does not involve fancy settings or costly partnerships. Rather, they opt for simple and amusing effects, such as the popular plane face filter, to craft their brand's TikTok content.

A successful TikTok account requires a unique strategy that resonates with the target audience. Brands must be mindful of using a language and style that appeals to their demographic, be it user-generated content or original content. It is imperative to have a clear understanding of the audience's demographics such as their age, gender, nationality, and interests. Finally, the content should be presented in a fun, concise manner that is tailored to the platform.

Wish to succeed on TikTok? Win a free consultation with KPI Media  to develop your brand's TikTok strategy.

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